Bulldogs have their way with Dons in semifinals
LAS VEGAS — With just less than three minutes left in Monday night’s WCC semifinal game, the USF starters sat side by side on the bench, soaking in the sting of what would become an 88-60 loss to Gonzaga.
The good news: Only one starter, Chase Foster, is a senior. The bad news: The Dons have a lot of work to do to rise to the bar the sixth-ranked Bulldogs have set for the conference.
“I think our future is sky high,” USF junior point guard Frankie Ferrari said. “We want to improve, and we’ll work to do so.”
Gonzaga (29-4) led for all but 37 seconds and by as many as 33 points in winning its 16th straight WCC tournament game and advancing to the title game for the 21st consecutive time. The Bulldogs will face BYU in Tuesday’s championship game.
Gonzaga, which trailed for only 51 of 720 minutes during regular-season WCC play, limited USF to 36.7 percent shooting while knocking down 53.3 percent at the other end, including 12-for-26 from three-point range.
USF, which hasn’t beaten Gonzaga since it upset the Bulldogs 66-65 in 2012, got 15 points from Nate Renfro on 6-for-7 shooting. He also led the Dons (18-15) in rebounds (six) and assists (three).
The rest of the team combined to go 16-for-53 from the floor (30.2 percent), and no one else scored in double digits. Ferrari and Jordan Ratinho, the players who have paced USF all season, combined for 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting from the floor and 1-for-5 three-point shooting.
“San Francisco has been a really, really tough opponent for us this year,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said, adding that USF head coach Kyle Smith “has done a great job of putting his guys in the right spot and getting them to compete and play hard. It’s a real tactical game every time we play them.”
Tactics don’t matter much when Gonzaga plays like this: making its first six shots, including three threepointers, to take a 16-7 lead in the opening 3½ minutes, and then just taking turns featuring its stars.
Rui Hachimura had nine points during a 16-3 run to extend USF’s deficit to 39-20 with 6½ minutes left in the first half. Johnathan Williams scored six of the Bulldogs’ eight points during a 2½-minute stretch that pushed the lead to 61-36, and Killian Tillie scored 10 straight Gonzaga points to make it 73-47 with 10½ to play in the second half.
Tillie led the way with 26 points in 26 minutes on 10-for-11 shooting, including 5-for-5 from three-point range. Hachimura added 17 points. Williams had his usual double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds), and Zach Norvell Jr., who was 4-for-8 from three-point range, had 14 points.
“We stayed with what we try to do, and that’s all you can do,” Smith said. “… It was a little bit of a hat tip tonight.”